Here is part 2 of our hunt in Palo Pinto County last week. We have put together some video that does a decent job of showing very similar sequences between the IR Defense IR Hunter MKII and Armasight Zeus 3 thermal weapon sights.

This was one of the most convoluted hunts I have been on and it was a great time. When we started our second stalk from the back, the ground had been muddy and then cattle walked all through it, so very little was level, holes everywhere. Where we weren't in holes, there was prickly pear cactus. We had to cross under electric fences several times before finally getting as close as we could reasonably get in the bright moon of the night. The moon was bright enough that we could navigate the field just fine without night vision or thermal and seeing the hogs and cattle was possible at 200 yards, not clearly, but you could see that they were animals moving around. It was fairly bright.

It was a good hunt, but we had very limited fields of fire due to structures, petroleum batteries, and cattle. Shots 2 hogs, recovered 1.

I missed my first shot which was unusual. Though it was somewhat bright enough to walk, we observed the animals many times through our thermal monocs and scopes. By the time we reached the fence we shot from my eyes were watering and burning from so much screen time. I could barely focus in the scope. That, and concentrating on DNS being ready and counting, I just pushed the shot. I did pick the one off running.

As DNS stated, there were a lot of obstacles to be aware of and we didn't want an upset rancher by hitting a cow or equipment.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. I told DNS that I would get the rancher to pave him some walkways so it would be easier for him next time.